Need a hand or have an idea? Email workwithpidugu@gmail.com — we usually reply within a couple of days.
Frequently asked
I can't see the Sun / Moon / Milky Way — where is it?
It's probably below the horizon right now. A body's chip shows a small downward arrow when it's currently down — tap it off, or scrub the time forward until it rises. The Milky Way's bright core is also seasonal, and best late at night; try scrubbing to around 11 PM–2 AM and looking low toward the south.
The overlay looks rotated or off from the real sky.
That's the compass heading. Tap the compass / recalibrate button in the panel and sweep your phone in a figure-eight for a second or two to settle the magnetometer. Heading is most accurate away from cars, magnets, and metal desks (and some magnetic phone cases can throw it off).
How accurate are the positions?
Very. The Sun is computed to about 0.01°, the Moon to a couple of arcminutes (including parallax and phase), using standard astronomical algorithms — all on your device. The exact on-screen overlay also depends on your phone's compass and your location accuracy.
Why does Gloaming need my location and camera?
Location is used to compute the sky for exactly where you are and to point the view at true north. Camera is used to show the live sky behind the overlay. The camera is never recorded or saved, and your location isn't stored. See the Privacy Policy for details.
The Sun and Moon look tiny (or too big).
By default they're drawn enlarged so you can spot them and read the Moon's phase. Tap the true-size button to switch to their real ~0.5° size — exactly how big they look in the sky. The Sun and Moon are genuinely almost the same size, and the Moon grows a little near perigee (a "supermoon").
What is the line of mountains on the horizon?
That's your real terrain horizon, drawn from elevation data for your location, so you can see exactly where the Sun or Moon will set behind a ridge. It needs an internet connection to load the first time and is cached after that. Toggle it with the mountain button.
What do the gold and blue parts of the timeline mean?
That bar is the day's light: night, twilight, blue hour, golden hour, and day. The marker tracks the time you're viewing, and it shows how long until the next phase — so you always know when the good light is.
Is Gloaming free?
Yes. Gloaming is free to download and use, with no account and no ads.
Is my data private?
Yes — no accounts, no ads, no tracking. Everything is computed on your device; the only thing sent out is approximate coordinates to look up ground elevation for the horizon. See the Privacy Policy.
Which devices does it work on?
Gloaming runs on iPhone with iOS 17 or later and requires ARKit (the camera and motion sensors), which all recent iPhones have.
Still stuck?
Email workwithpidugu@gmail.com with your device model and iOS version and we'll help.